


message in a bottle

by embraidery



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, or poetry prose, prosey poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23708452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embraidery/pseuds/embraidery
Summary: Lucy puts a message in a bottle and sends it down the creek.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	message in a bottle

**Author's Note:**

> make sure to read the asides, aligned to the right! :^)

One day, when Lucy’s alone,

(Peter hunting game,

Susan lost in a book,

Edmund out in the forest)

she takes a bottle,

scribbles a message,

puts them together,

throws the bottle into the creek with a splash.

down

down

down

the bottle goes.

She’s about to turn back when she sees it caught on a branch.

She pushes the bottle back into the stream,

watches until it’s out of sight.

She doesn’t remember the bottle for long.

* * *

Down the stream, a man,

a boy, really,

squelches along the stream bed.

Mud between his toes,

mud between his fingers,

smile on his face. It’s a beautiful day.

He steps on something cold and hard,

not a rock,

something else.

What, then?

He stoops

(long hair falling around his face)

(water flashing diamonds in his eyes)

and plucks the bottle from the mud. 

(He could name the bottle Moses, declare it his son--

If Moses had lived in Narnia.)

He sits on the edge of the creek, feet in the water,

washes the mud from the lid,

uncorks it.

Tips the bottle over, catches its gift in creek-wet hands.

Paper. A letter.

_Hi, my name is Lucy_

it begins, in berry-bright ink 

crisp against handmade paper,

_and I live in this forest._

_Do you live here, too?_

A thicket, tangle, a thatch of red ink 

hides the next words.

Three lines is all there is,

but the boy,

Caspian,

is touched.

Feels his heart warm in his chest.

He tucks the letter in his jerkin,

the bottle in his pack.

He walks up the creek

in search of adventure

and Lucy,

wherever and 

whoever 

she is.


End file.
